1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a collecting toner container detachably attached to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile using an electrophotographic system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a collecting toner container recovers developer degraded in a developing device or non-transferred toner scrapped from a photoconductive drum or an intermediate transfer member by a cleaning portion. Then, when the collecting toner amount reaches a predetermined amount, the collecting toner container is replaced by an empty container.
It is desirable that the collecting toner container recover the toner or the developer as much as possible. In recent years, a method of reusing the collecting toner container usually discarded after replacement has been examined due to a demand for the effective utilization of resources. In order to reuse the collecting toner container, there is a need to discharge the collecting toner and to clean the collecting toner container.
Here, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-300635 discloses a collecting toner container that efficiently discharges collecting toner therein without any toner flying around the collecting toner container to be reused. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-300635, a discharge opening through which the collecting toner flows is disposed separately from the main body of the image forming apparatus, and a screw is formed toward the discharge opening. During the cleaning operation of the collecting toner container, the screw is rotated so as to discharge the collecting toner from the discharge opening. Accordingly, it is possible to discharge the toner fixed into the collecting toner container while crushing the toner.
In U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/216289 A1, an opening is provided so as to discharge collecting toner inside the container, and a lid member blocking the opening also serves as a bearing portion of a conveying screw inside a collecting toner container. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably prevent a problem in which the screw and the bearing portion are blocked by the collecting toner during the cleaning operation of the collecting toner container.
In order to decrease the number of times of the maintenance of the collecting toner container, the collecting toner container needs to be increased in size or the collecting toner charging amount inside the collecting toner container needs to be increased. In this case, a large amount of the collecting toner is collected inside one collecting toner container.
For this reason, it takes time when the collecting toner is discharged or the collecting toner container is cleaned in order to reuse the collecting toner container. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-300635 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/216289 A1, the screw is rotated so as to discharge the collecting toner inside the collecting toner container. Since the discharge opening is provided only in one surface of the collecting toner container, it takes time when the collecting toner is discarded.
Here, it is desirable to provide a collecting toner container capable of efficiently discharging collected toner.